Bangladesh recorded a nail-biting victory over India in the first match of the three-match ODI series on Sunday. After winning the toss Bangladesh skipper Litton Das invited India to put runs on the scoreboard. Rohit Sharma and Co. were bowled out for disappointing 186 runs in just 41.2 overs. Indian openers couldn’t provide India with a blazing start as Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit were dismissed early.
Only KL Rahul was able to play a lone hand for the visitors as he scored 73 runs off 70 balls including 5 fours and 4 sixes. Unfortunately, no one at the other was able to put a partnership with Rahul. Shakib Al Hasan from Bangladesh picked up 5 wickets and Pacer Ebadot Hossain picked up 4 wickets.
Chasing the target of 187, Bangladesh rode on skipper Litton Das’s 41 to stay in the hunt initially before collapsing to 136/9 in the 40th over. However, An unbroken 51-run last-wicket partnership between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman then helped the hosts win the match with four overs to spare.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz produced a match-winning knock
An unbeaten 38-run knock from Mehidy guided Bangladesh to victory in the first match, at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. After the match, the 25-year-old said that he believed that he can win the match for the team from that situation. His batting partner and no.11 batsman Mustafizur Rahman encouraged and gave him confidence.
“Maybe people will call me pagol (mad) but I had the honest belief that we could win. I only focused on winning the game. I kept telling myself that I can do this. I thought I’d score 15 runs with Ebadot, 20 runs with Hasan Mahmud and the remaining 15-20 runs with Mustafiz. But two quick wickets meant that it was do-or-die situation with the last wicket remaining. I had to take calculated risks. Mustafiz’s words really stayed with me. It gave me more belief,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Mehidy as saying.
“Mustafizur told me, You don’t worry about me. I will stop the ball at my end. I will take balls on the body, but I won’t get out,” he said.
